


and the World Slows Down

by whitelung



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Commander Nikiforov, Everything Gets Worse, Falling In Love, I was playing too much DnD.., Kissing, M/M, Romance, Spymaster Yuuri, Yurio aka the King who loves bedtime stories, inappropriate fruit eating, secrecy, when the sex stuff comes up I will tag it!
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-20
Updated: 2017-01-22
Packaged: 2018-09-18 16:40:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,793
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9394061
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/whitelung/pseuds/whitelung
Summary: Victor Nikiforov is an army commander fighting a never ending war halted suddenly by a massacre of an innocent, religious town built around an important, ancient temple. The High Priestess is not pleased, and demands the two nations to come to an temporary truce, and sends her most trusted adviser, the spymaster, Katsuki Yuuri to find the truth behind the slaughter, and to investigate odd reports they've been receiving about the temple.Yuuri isn't like anyone Victor's ever met. It was refreshing and infuriating. He goes from being honest to extremely secretive, compassionate to cold, and a seductive siren to a shy blushing virgin in a matter of seconds. He's first real, beautiful thing that's come in to Victor's life.And for Yuuri, Victor was like a tsunami , he doesn't know whether to be angry that all the walls and defences he built flooded away, or be happy that his unhappiness and anxiety that clung to him from his troubled past washed away.Either way, it was uncharted territory for both of them.





	1. the trouble begins

Commander Victor Nikiforov didn’t get nervous often, the war general has been under fire plenty of times, he had always served his nation with all he’s got. Fighting a never bloody, ending war with the southern kingdom of Monelith has turned his nerves unwavering and unbreakable. But today was something that Victor had never experienced, he stood beside the young king and in front of his armies, with his enemy right across from him, and he couldn’t lift a finger to kill him or order his troops to battle. Everyone had the same somber, weary appearance, nervous and irritant from having the enemy so close to them, and knowing what’s to come may be extremely unpleasant.

An array of dark horses were finally spotted, the signature gold reigns covered in complicated designs were proof that it was under the directive of the High Priestess, and She had sent Her most trusted messenger to decide the fate of the 2 enemy nations. As powerful as the kingdoms were, no one dared to go against the words of the woman chosen by the Gods. Victor doesn’t feel good about their chances, after a particularly bloody battle that blown up a small, insular religious town where a sacred temple was built. No one knew how it happened or who set the village ablaze, so the kingdoms were forced to a temporary truce so the Her Holiness can investigate and assign the punishment.

The adviser, elected by the Priestess to serve Her in Her most inner circle, and to guide Her in all her decisions came out of his carriage, Victor could not see his face as he was guarded by several people, all wearing helmets and were both quiet and efficient in their movements. He has heard about the adviser, he is rumoured to be extremely devoted and a personal friend to the Priestess, despite the ‘no attachment’ rule given to those working in Her Holiness’s temple.

 He has also heard that the man was very young, and many people had looked down on him for it, claiming that he could not possibly have the wisdom or experience to serve. However, they were proven wrong a year under his lead, the adviser has efficiently completely many of the Priestess’s goals, including breaking down class and racial barriers within the church and recruited people of all kinds, eliminating cults and her enemies, and to Victor’s dismay, tore down the prison his own country had built centuries ago that was known to be a looming threat for criminals. It held people of all kinds, and maintained by guards of his own and countries allied to them. It was replaced by a temple of men and women, who accepted the former prisoners that wished to repent. It was utter chaos, Victor had thought, to let the traitors and spies leave, it was a very difficult time to trust anybody. He also heard that the man was dubbed the spymaster by the people, a name he never denounced. He earned this title by serving Her Holiness in the shadows, making decisions and collecting secrets that could build or destroy empires.

A moment later, the spymaster stepped out from his circle of guards, and Victor saw his face for the first time. Wide eyed and rendered breathless, Victor forgot the situation for a second to let himself be blown away by the beauty of the raven haired man standing in the middle of the armies. He had the face of an angel, but a body that was positively sinful in his tight black clothing. His eyes were calm, and analytical, scanning the crowd for any sign of a threat. Victor was never one for strong religious beliefs, but he understood all of a sudden the urge that people have to worship _something_.

The dangerous look on the man’s face as he stepped towards the center brought Victor back to the reality of the situation, the spymaster wasn’t here for pleasantries, he was here to decide the fate of the two enemy nations.

Victor and the king stepped forward to where to the spymaster was standing, as did the enemy. There was an uncomfortable tension in the air, both commanders clutched on to their sheathed swords, only to let go when the spymaster glared.

“I am Katsuki Yuuri, the advisor to the High Priestess,” he introduced in a soft, calm yet powerful tone, pulling down his hood, revealing his slicked back, raven black hair in all its glory, “you may call me Yuuri if you wish”

“and I’m-”the enemy commander began, but was cut off by spymaster,

“I know who all of you are, the Priestess has been following your conflict for years, she intended for you to deal with it yourselves, but unfortunately, it seems that you can’t stop yourselves from going too far,” he explained, both sides remained quiet, knowing any protests would get them into further trouble.

“Her Holiness will be fair,” he continued, “She will not make a decision until She is sure of what has happened, but in the meantime, your fighting must stop in order for this move smoothly, understood?”

“good,” he said after seeing that no one is arguing, then turned to the enemy king “I will assign one of my teams to investigate your people, I expect you to fully cooperate.”

“of course,” the commander of the other country bowed politely,

“and I will be personally investigating your people,” Yuuri said, turning to Victor and his king, there was a look of suspicion and determination on his face. And Victor knew the young king long enough to know that this wasn’t going to end well,

“are we under more suspicion?” the king asked, not keeping the anger out of his voice, “when they’re the ones who initiated-”

“we did no such thing,” the enemy king cut in, “your people are far more barbaric when it comes to war, so of course the High Priestess would suspect you”

“that’s enough,” Yuuri cut in sharply, “you will both do as I ask unless you want to answer to Her Holiness yourselves.”

That turned the men silent once again, a moment later, they separated. Yuuri looked to Victor with a raised brow, gesturing for him to lead their people back to his kingdom.

Despite knowing that they are in a world of trouble, Victor felt almost glad that he could take the handsome man home.

 

…

 

 

They travelled quietly without stop until the evening, then a camp was set up in a safe spot in a forest area. Victor accompanied the king and several of his closest guards to a campfire where Yuuri was sitting. He didn’t look particularly comfortable, but he still looks graceful and composed.

“this can’t be what your accustomed to,” Victor said to the adviser, taking a seat beside him, “I’ve seen the holy city as a child, it’s beauty can’t be described by words, fitting for you, I think”

“perhaps,” Yuuri smiles politely at the compliment, “I haven’t really had the time to enjoy the city, I think, I grew up in a very small, impoverished town, and my job required me to live a less... illustrious lifestyle. Simply put, my living spaces are often cold and isolated, as undetectable and easy to abandon as possible.”

“I am surprised,” Victor replied, tending to the fire, “you are one of the most important people in the world, and yet you do not live this way, if anyone else were in your position, I do not imagine they would make the same choices,”

“really?” Yuuri said with a quiet, amused laughter, sounding surprised at Victor’s analysis, “it’s a pretty well know rule that people who devote their lives to the High Priestess must not be devoted to riches and possessions”

“a rule not often followed,” Victor pointed out, “it’s very common for more famed churches and temples to take bribes,”

“that is true,” Yuuri nodded, “I suppose people can’t help themselves, wealth and power is seductive, and more solid than faith and service. I can’t blame the general public that pray for wealth, we are taught to do so, I think. The bribing is something the Priestess is trying to solve, we are actively shutting down reported cases of corruption.”

Victor was surprised once again by Yuuri’s words, he had expected someone esteemed as the High Priestess’s most trusted adviser to be less forgiving, and in simpler words, more judgemental. Yet Yuuri seemed like a person to make compromises and find compassion for people that might not even deserve it. He understood why Yuuri was chosen to work so closely with the Priestess, he was lethal and dangerous when he had to be, while still holding on to the best values the church preaches.

“I don’t wish to pry,” Victor started again, this time with a more serious tone, “but I am not sure how much of a problem we have caused,”

The was a few seconds of uncomfortable slience,

“I will be honest,” Yuuri answered slowly, searching for the best way to explain, “there is more trouble than I’ve led you to believe”

Victor’s heart sank, he already thought the worst had happened, and now he learns that Yuuri toned it down for his sake,

“your war has been in the spotlights for many debates,” Yuuri explained, “the Priestess and I were invited to many meetings with powerful kingdoms and nobility of the world, and they’re calling for your heads. Blowing up a scared temple, with so much history and prominence was a painful loss. The Priestess is pulling every string She has to delay a potential world war, and sending me here to investigate”

“I had no idea that She cared what happens to us,” Victor could barely find his words, “especially after all that we’ve done”

“I shouldn’t be telling you this,” Yuuri admitted, “but She actually suspect that there is more going on than we think, reports leading to this incident had been odd”

“I will do what I can to help,” Victor promised, looking into Yuuri’s dark eyes, the advisor seemed to believe that Victor had good intentions, and thanked him before returning to his tent. Victor left a moment later, and tried to get a full night of sleep before they had to travel again.

 

 

…

 

 

Yuuri and the people he brought chose the darkest, most remote corner of the castle to live in, and only the king’s inner circle knew his exact location. Yuuri explained the tactical advantages of living in such a location, but Victor suspected there was more to it than Yuuri is willing to share. Nevertheless, Yuuri did say yes when Victor offered to take him on a tour of the castle, and gently clutched on to the arm Victor offered.

 

“and here is our armory,” Victor explained, leading Yuuri into a large, decorated hall, “most of the weapons that outfit our troops are here, though the king and royal members of the kingdom have uniquely crafted weapons, I could take you to see some of them, if you wish”

“that sounds good,” Yuuri replied, picking up a dagger, and spinning it smoothly with his left hand, “great balance on this,”

“finest weapons in the world,” Victor replied, quoting the phrase often spoken about his kingdom, it’s one of the many things they were famous for

“so I’ve heard,” Yuuri replied, “I’d like to test these out sometimes,”

“you are welcome to join our training,” Victor made the invite immediately,

“I think I’m suppose to be interrogating you,” Yuuri said teasingly, pointing the sharp end of the dagger underneath Victor’s chin,

“I think I want to be interrogated by you,” Victor replied in a low voice, looking right into Yuuri’s eyes suggestively. He moved in closer so the dagger is poking at his skin.

Yuuri doesn’t move away, they stay in this position for a couple of seconds, Victor could feel Yuuri’s breath on his collarbone.

“I suppose the rumors of my exploits in the interrogation room have gotten out,” Yuuri said, and it was barely a whisper, then he dropped the dagger and smiled at the commander, “and here I was, hoping to be seen as a threat,”

“I won’t underestimate your abilities,” Victor promised, smiling back at the spymaster, “that doesn’t mean we can’t be friends”

“you want us to be friends?” Yuuri said with a light, melodic laughter,

“I can be very friendly, should I prove it to you?”

“maybe another time, commander” 


	2. friendly relations

The spymaster doesn’t leave his quarters for days, bombarded by reports from his people and the team investigating the enemy kingdom. Victor was rather disappointed when Yuuri doesn’t show up to the dinners he was invited to. The young king, Yuri Plisetsky, dubbed as ‘Yurio’ by his grandfather as a child, seemed anxious over this situation as well, even though he never seem fazed by any type of trouble. It is one of the reason that he is held in such high esteem as king, despite being only 15 years old. People applauded his courage and mental toughness, though Victor knew he had a long way to go in terms of making wise decisions and dealing with difficult situations with patience and a level head.

“hey, commander,” Yurio called, snapping Victor out of his trance, “you talked to that spy, are we all going to die?”

Yurio sounded like he didn’t care, but Victor could see he was afraid,

“I can’t answer that,” Victor replied, thinking that honestly was probably the best approach, “perhaps the spymaster could answer that better himself,”

“if he ever leaves that shithole, I’ll ask,” Yurio snorted, putting his feet on the side of his chair,

So elegant, Victor sighed to himself, he really wished Yurio showed some sophistication in his actions outside fighting, and maybe do something about all the cursing. He should take some lessons from Yuuri, who always seem so poised and does everything with a beautiful finesse.

He even looked beautiful with bags under his eyes and worn out clothing as he walked into the dining hall for the first time in weeks, much to the surprise of everyone.

“sorry for intruding,” Yuuri bowed to the king and Victor, “I needed to clear my head, I hope it won’t bother you too much if I joined you tonight,”

That may explain why Yuuri never dined with them, he might have thought he was unwelcome, which was utterly ridiculous,

“you’re always welcome,” Yurio said before Victor could respond, and gestured to an empty seat, “if you weren’t wanted, we wouldn’t have invited you,”

“thank you, your Grace” Yuuri replied with a soft smile and sat into his designated seat.

It seemed that Yurio has been affected like Victor was by Yuuri’s presence, in a more innocent way, like he was star struck 

“my name is Yuri too, but you probably already know. People call me Yurio, I kind of hated it before, but you can call me that if you want,” Yurio introduced, unable to tear his eyes from the tired spymaster,

“that sounds great, Yurio,” Yuuri replied, “It’s a pleasure to meet you”

“what’s it like, being a spy and living in the holy city? Do you meet a lot of interesting people?” Yurio asked, spewing out all the question he’s gathered for weeks,

“the holy city is filled with stories, and new ones are made each day,” Yuuri explained, knowing what the young king was looking for, “in my position, I get to see history made first hand. One of the most interesting people I’ve met is Sister Minako, the Lady of the Sword. If you want, I could tell you how she earned that title and met the High Priestess,”

“yes, please” Yurio nodded excitedly, Victor hid his laughter, Yurio might have been the king of one of the most powerful countries in the world, but he was still a child

“Sister Minako was born from a family of commoners farther north, and because of the extreme weather, they were nomadic.” Yuuri began the story, “She lived her life isolated from civilization and learned how to survive in the wild from her parents. She learned how to sword fight from her mother, a former member of a mercenary band, and to be flexible and cunning from her father in order to keep away from the dangers of nature and bandits that camped in the forests.

When she was old enough, she decided that she wanted to see the world, and mostly, the Holy City. When she arrived in Haeleth, the city next to her destination, she realised that she did not have enough coin to stay anywhere, and since she was not a member of the church, she was not granted access to most of the shelters.

While wandering the city, she saw a banner from the royal palace, a sword fighting competition where the winner would be rewarded 10,000 gold, so she tried to sign up. However, she was told that women were not allowed entry, so she came back in full body armour and fooled the knight into thinking she was a man. When the day came, Minako fought beautifully, tearing through the competition with her superior skill and speed. Winning the respect and love of the audience. This of course, enraged Lord Ralyn, a finalist who lost almost all of his money in a poor investment the previous year. When Minako faced Lord Ralyn, she fought hard defeated him easily. Unable to accept his loss, Ralyn attacked Minako while she celebrated her win, she tried to dodge his blow and as a result, her helmet was knocked off,”

“Yurio, you should sleep,” Victor cut in when Yuuri paused at a particularly exciting point, “perhaps Yuuri could finish his story tomorrow-“

“I will have you executed, Victor,” Yurio growled impatiently, much to Victor’s amusement,

“it’s almost over,” Yuuri smiled, and continued “Minako was arrested immediately for her deception, and thrown into jail, she was sentenced to death for making a fool of Prince Ordan, the man hosting the competition. Unfazed, Minako challenged the Prince himself to a fight. The Prince was angry, but the gauntlet was thrown, and the Prince did not want to seem like he was afraid of a woman, so he accepted, on the condition that he would be guarded by 5 of his finest men. Minako agreed, and so the fight begun. Her body slowed in tiredness as the fight went on, she had already been in several battles today. Eventually, she had the prince pinned, but refused to kill him, so the Prince took the chance to knock her down, and was about to cut off her head. Before he could do so, the arena grew silent all of a suddenly, the only thing that could be heard was the bell of the High Priestess, who demanded that the fight to stop, and that it was unfair to Minako. The prince argued that she was a criminal. The High Priestess replied,

“Minako is an honorable woman, and undeniably skilled. I wish to have her in my service, you wouldn’t deprive me of that, would you?”

The prince shook his head in defeat and let Minako stand up to approach the High Priestess, she was grateful to be saved and recognised for her talents, and kneeled in front of her and said,

“I would be honoured to serve you, Your Holiness,” The High Priestess smiled, helped Minako up, and told her,

“from today, you shall be in my service with the title ‘Lady of the Sword’, you have shown me you are brave, and the best sword fighter I have seen in ages, come, let us discuss more in the Holy City”

Minako smiled in happiness and satisfaction, it was everything she had hoped to accomplish, and more” 

 

“I’d like to meet her,” Yurio slurred tiredly as Yuuri and Victor walked him back to his chambers,

“she would like you,” Yuuri chuckled softly, “you’re very honest and strong, just like her”

“you think so?” Yurio murmured, his eyes closing, 

“of course,” Yuuri replied, then bowed, “good night, your Grace”

Yurio muttered something unintelligible, and Yuuri left the room with Victor.

“He must really like you, “ Victor noted, “usually, when he meets someone, he yells at them until they cry”

“I feel special,” Yuuri laughed softly, the sound of it made Victor feel warm inside, “I suppose I have my way with stories, I used to tell them to the High Priestess, she was always curious of my worldly life”

“you are very special,” Victor stopped Yuuri in his tracks, and watched as a light pink blush appeared on the man’s face,

 

“I… should retire, good night, commander” Yuuri ducked under Victors arm and left hurriedly.

 

Was that too much? Victor sighed and leaned into the wall. He thought Yuuri was interested in their previous interactions, but he had pulled away before they could go any further. Perhaps it’s too soon, Victor thought, and Yuuri doesn’t fully trust him yet. He might come around after some time. After all, Victor was an incredibly handsome, charming man with many suitors asking for his hand in marriage, people happily climbing into bed with him and dowagers promising him a life of luxury. That fact doesn’t really comfort him, if hypothetically, Yuuri rejected him. Something about Yuuri felt different from all those other people, and Victor can’t really put his finger on it. 

 

…

 

“you look tired, you should sleep” Leo de la Iglesia, one of Yuuri’s spies, said as he walked by his tired boss, “how long have you been up for anyway?”

“I don’t remember,” Yuuri groans, rubbing his eyes, trying to detect where the voice was coming from “I think I napped before I sent Phichit up north?”

“oh Gods, that’s like, almost 3 days ago,” Leo's eyes widen, “you definitely need to sleep, or I’ll send a complaint letter about you to the Priestess”

“I’m being threatened by my own men,” Yuuri complained, his head hitting the table, “unbelievable,”

“just making sure you don’t die of exhaustion,” Leo shrugged, taking a seat beside Yuuri,

“you’re right, I guess,” Yuuri sighs, “I’ll sleep… after I finish reading this week’s reports”

“I’ll take what I can get,” Leo smiles, “give me half, lets get started”

“you don’t have to help me, one of us suffering is enough”

“I slept for 8 hours last night,” Leo commented, “I think I’m better equipped to do this than you”

They work in silence for a bit, most of the reports are useless. Nothing out of the ordinary is happening, yet. Yuuri isn’t confident enough to discard them however, unlike Leo, who tossed most of the letters into the trash,

“people here are so honest, and trusting” he said, reading something someone sent about a noble woman, “it’s refreshing, it almost makes me feel guilty for lying to them”

“we’re not going to be here forever,” Yuuri replied, “but, I know what you mean, I think everyone feels genuinely guilty for what happened, I hate making them feel so on the edge about this, but I don’t think it’s a bad idea to be cautious”

“you mean how you’re holding the commander’s hand and fluttering your eyelashes?” Leo laughed, “I don’t think you’re being very threatening”

“I-I am not!” Yuuri squeaked, then punched leo on the shoulder lightly, “it’s called being friendly, it’s a good strategy to get information”

“just information?” Leo teased, then tried to avoid another punch from Yuuri

“you sound just like Phichit,” Yuuri grumbled, “what part of sacrificing my body and soul to the Gods do you people not understand?”

“right, forgot about that rule,” Leo snorts, “no physical pleasure, none of the Sisters seem to be following it, and what about that time you were in Hempsfire? You seemed very-”

“I needed to know who was distributing the Sun drug,” Yuuri said defensively, “I was just doing my job,”

“alright alright, you’re a pure and perfect angel from the heavens, happy?” Leo laughs at Yuuri, who’s blush has turned almost red,

“ok, that’s too much,” Yuuri tosses his head back, “I just don’t like how you made me sound like some seductive, sneaky- ok, I can be pretty sneaky but, you get the point. I’m like, a very inexperienced person, ok? I can’t even kiss someone without laughing or wanting to run away,”

“you’re adorable,” Leo comments, “you know, underneath all the daggers and poisons and ‘the weight of the world on your shoulders’”

“stop quoting Seung-gil,” Yuuri chided, “haven’t you heard? If you mention him 3 times, he’ll appear infront you and smack you with a holy scripture”

“oh my Gods,” Leo and Yuuri laughs together at the thought of a Seung-gil lecture, “he’s actually made some poor soul recite Goddess Lorenia’s chant 50 times for giggling in a sermon”

“they should have sent him here instead of us,” Yuuri says, “he’ll be scaring the truth out of these people in a day,”

“you think we can still get him to come?” Leo asks, then cringes at his word choice, “uhh, not like that, I don’t think anyone can-”

“Leo!” Yuuri slaps him on the arm, and stifles another giggle, “I think you’re physically hurting him by saying that, like somewhere, he feels your-“

“my what?” Leo asks, a mischievous grin on his face, earning another smack from Yuuri, “ow, stop that”

“if you can finish the rest of the reports before mid-night, no more smacks for you” Yuuri says, picking up a couple more letters.

“yessss bosss” Leo fakes a long, tired groan, and picks up his papers dramatically. They did end up going through the piles of paper before midnight, and Leo tucked Yuuri into his bed aggressively when he attempts to do more work. Yuuri couldn’t help but feel anxious about the lack of productivity in the last few days, nothing he did contained evidence of the Priestess’s theory, but he does end up falling asleep for a couple of hours.

When he wakes up, it’s from a nightmare. He doesn’t bother trying to go back to sleep. Against Leo’s demands, he sits at his desk and begins to re-read the letters.

 


	3. murder party

Things get more interesting when Christophe Giacometti throws a party, and invites everyone from the king to famed dancers. Yuuri of course, receives an invite, which he wanted to toss into the trash before the king insisted he joined them. Yuuri doesn’t tell them that Christophe wasn’t Yuuri’s biggest fan, hoping the noble has forgiven him and let go of what’s in the past.

He agrees to go, because it would be foolish not to. There would be plenty of people with new insight and secrets, he could loosen any well-kept secret with a bit of alcohol and flirting. Many servants would be clueless to his status, and as long as Christophe doesn’t make him wear a warning sign, there’s no reason why people wouldn’t want to converse with him.

So there he was, on a fancy horse beside the commander at night time, in the formal shawl uniform given to him by the church, with the official symbol embroidered on a brooch taken off for subtlety.

“interesting choice of attire,” Victor said to him, “… not something I would chose”

The commander wore a stylish suit, decorated with gems that matched his blue eyes, and he looked absolutely stunning. He was probably going to get a few marriage proposals tonight, it would be interesting watch him try to keep up with the lines of young men and women asking for a dance.

“It’s the only thing I am allowed to wear, commander,” Yuuri reminded him, “vanity is a sin,”

“I don’t think I could survive working for the Priestess,” Victor replies with a smile, “I suppose if anyone can look attractive in that atrocity, it’s you”

“that’s not fair,” Yuuri says, “I think if I just tuck some parts in, and maybe crop the oversized sleeves, the outfit would look elegant”

“I suppose as long as you can politely bow and tell people you aren’t allowed to dance, you’ll be fine” Victor jokes.

“I’ll have you know, this is fantastic to dance in” Yuuri laughs, “I look like a princess, spinning around in all this fabric”

“I’ll have to dance with you at least once tonight,” Victor says, and Yuuri promises him he’ll try.

…

The ballroom was even more decorated then before, honestly, it gave Yuuri a headache. Christophe was obscenely wealthy, and is probably in love with his interior decorator. He stood still, waiting for the introductions, handshakes and idle chatter to end, hoping Christophe was busy with his other guests to notice him at all,

“this is annoying,” Yurio growls after a crowd had left them, “why do I have to be here?”

“you need to keep up appearances,” Victor answered, “you wouldn’t want people to think you don’t care about them”

“well I don’t” Yurio replied angrily

“but they can’t know that” Victor rebutted, “you need to have good relations with the nobility of this country, right Yuuri?”

He looked at Yuuri, waiting for his support

“think about it this way,” Yuuri shrugged, “it’s better than being invited to tea,”

“I guess,” Yurio rolled his eyes, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed, “oh great, here comes more people”

In-between the boring conversation, Yuuri felt a hand on his lower back, making it’s way down-

“Christophe!” Victor greeted, “how are you, old friend?”

“I’m doing well, despite recent events,” he answered with a polite smile, “and how are you?”

“fine,” Victor replies, then comments “lovely party”

“of course,” Christophe smiles, then turns his gaze to Yuuri, the man he’s currently touching, “may I borrow the spymaster from you?”

“I suppose?” Victor looks confused, Yurio shrugs, not really paying attention,

“can we talk… In private, Yuuri?” Christophe asks, a sharp smile on his face,

“as you wish,” Yuuri replied, sounding unfazed, letting the man lead him to a room closed off from the party area.

“so, who are you trying to poison this time, hmm?” Christophe asks in a low voice, standing uncomfortably close to Yuuri,

“you still haven’t forgiven me?” Yuuri rolls his eyes and grins, not backing away, “I was only looking out for your best interests”

“you seduced me, poisoned my personal guard and rendered me unconscious,” Christophe said flatly with a raised brow, “how is that my best interest?”

“you’re not dead, right?” Yuuri replied, “and the seduction part is subjective, I don’t believe I’ve done such a thing"

“try not to kill anyone this time,” Christophe sighs, offering his arm, “blood stains are so hard to remove from the carpet,”

Yuuri took his arm and let Christophe guide him back to the party,

“only if no one pulls out a weapon first,” Yuuri replied,

“… you are banned from the fruitcakes this evening,” Christophe rubs his forehead,

“this is treason,” Yuuri jokes, smiling at Christophe, “you’re technically turning away from the Gods by depriving me of fruitcake,”

“just have a good time dancing,” Christophe snorts, “and make sure nothing bad happens to the king”

“that’s his commanders jobs,” Yuuri pointed out, “but I guess I could help”

They bowed to each other politely before going into separate directions . Yuuri tries his best to hide from attention. His steps were soft and he kept away from crowds, listening to their conversations. Most of it was complaints about the war stopping, which was very unprofitable, apparently. One noble man actually called the High Priestess a bitch, which was actually not uncommon for wealthy elites who found themselves challenged for their corruption for the first time.

“these guys are assholes,” a man behind him said, snorting. “ ‘fill up my drink!’ ‘clean my horse!’ ‘I used to have a hundred servants in my summer home and now I only have 97’”

Yuuri laughed and turned around to see a young servant, who didn’t recognize him in his plain attire,

“rough night?” Yuuri asked sympathetically,

“yeah, I barely had the chance to breathe” the servant rolled his eyes, “and I keep getting yelled at, these ungrateful fucks”

“money lets you get away with murder,” Yuuri nodded, agreeing with the servants assessments,

“you don’t know the half of it,” the man sighed, “I’ve been trying to wipe out blood stains in the garden all evening, god knows why they’re even there”

“blood stains?” Yuuri’s eyes widen, “that’s odd, who asked you to clean it?”

The man looked around, seeing that they were alone enough to not be heard by anyone, and whispered

“this nobleman, I don’t know his name, but I swear, I saw the guard with him carry a dead body, one of his own, I think”

“sounds like he got himself in a lot of trouble,” Yuuri comments, then looked at the servant with concern, “you should probably stay away from the garden for the rest of the night”

“yeah, I’ll try,” he smiled gratefully at the fact that someone actually showed that they cared about his safety

“you see that girl with the long, black hair” Yuuri pointed at Sara Crispino, “stick with her, if she asks any questions, just say you’re Yuuri’s friend, trust me on this one.”

“is that your name?” the man asks with what Yuuri registered as a flirtatious grin on his face, “I’m Eric, by the way, and I do trust you,”

“stay safe, Eric,” Yuuri said, and gently draped his arm on the servant’s shoulder, he did seem like a good person, Yuuri hoped he wouldn’t be a causality, “maybe I’ll see you around”

“yeah, hope so,” he replied softly, reluctantly walking towards the girl Yuuri pointed to. Tonight was going to be dangerous, Yuuri thought, and mentally apologized to Chris. He spotted Victor, surrounded by several young men and women. Since he already asked Sara to babysit, Victor was going to be his back up, he was certainly not going to risk Yurio’s life. Not that he would rather have Victor die, but he seemed like he could handle himself. Yuuri hoped this was just some money squabbles or a debt problem, but at a time like this? Highly unlikely.

“want to have a stroll in the garden? I heard it was lovely,” Yuuri whispered in Victor’s ear after squeezing his way in through the crowd,

“not as lovely as you,” Victor smiled, turning away from his admirers immediately, “and I’d love to accompany you,”

“perfect,” Yuuri smiles, letting Victor wrap his arms around his waist, and headed outside. Yuuri led him to the place the servant, Eric, mentioned. The off-limits sections where tomatoes were growing,

“odd place,” Victor commented, giving Yuuri an inquisitive look, “I suppose being alone is … nice”

“and I’m a nice person” Yuuri shrugged, touching a tomato vine, “I bet these taste great, they’re so red”

Victor picks one from the top vines, the ones that Yuuri can’t reach and smiled suggestively. Yuuri’s heart pounded faster involuntarily,

“want to try one?” Victor whispered, bringing the tomato to Yuuri’s lips, Yuuri looked up at him, flushed, and looked at the tomato,

“why not?” he whispered back, a devious look appearing in his eyes. This was a game he’s played before, although inexperienced with love, he knew how to seduce someone. He learned in his teenage years the effect he could have on people, and how handy the skill would become. Not that Victor was going to be his victim, it might be the other way around, Yuuri thought. Finding himself very attracted to the commander all of a sudden. He doesn’t really know what came over him. Apparently, a tall, handsome man with beautiful eyes and silver hair was going to bring down the High Priestess’s spymaster.

His pink tongue darts out slowly to lick the skin of the tomato, and skins his teeth in. Victor looks flustered, he’s not sure if the commander even remembers where they are as the juices dribble down Yuuri’s chin,

“mmm, this is good” Yuuri moans, and Victor looks like he’s choking, did he really think he had the upper hand?  Yuuri suppresses his grin as he moves his tongue up to Victor’s thumb. Kissing his finger softly, and scraps his teeth on the skin of his wrists as he moved his lips upwards.

“kind of messy,” Yuuri says casually once he stopped his inappropriate tomato tasting, “but it was sweet”

“you-” Victor skill can’t find his words, Yuuri wants to laugh, but that would be mean. And he _was_ a very nice person.

Victor throws the tomato away and puts his sticky hand on the back of Yuuri’s head, not very gently, and with his other hand on Yuuri’s hip. Yuuri licks his lips, Victor shakes his head, he laughed a soft, incredulous laugh before kissing the spymaster, hard. Yuuri made a slight noise of distress at the how fast it came, then threw his own hands around Victor’s neck and kissed back. He changed Victor’s hard, desperate kisses to an agonisingly slow, gentle pace, nibbling lightly at Victor’s lip, making the man gasp in pleasure.

 

Yuuri could barely register the next few seconds as he shoved Victor away from him, and out of the way of a thrown knife, which barely missed Yuuri’s shoulder. Not wasting anytime, he picks up the knife and stands between the attacker and the commander. Letting him recuperate as Yuuri blocked the man’s next attack, which was definitely aimed at Victor, and when he caught on and stood in a fighting stance, Yuuri took the chance and lunged at the assassin, slashing his neck and kicked him away from Victor. The man loses his balance and falls to the ground, dying silently after a few seconds.

“Gods, what just-” Victor said breathlessly, then immediately turned to Yuuri, “are you ok? Are you hurt or anything?”

He examine the spymaster quickly, and tries to turn his head for further inspection,

“not a scratch,” Yuuri says, and voluntarily rolls his neck for Victor to see,  “besides, that man was after you, so the question should be, are you alright?”

“same here, no injuries,” Victor replies with a relieved sigh, and looks at the body in front of him.

Yuuri just shrugged and bent down to examine it. He was in an all-black armored with a very light, sturdy material. The way he moved was fast and quiet, Yuuri only noticed him when his knife was in front of his eyes. And the mask, Yuuri had definitely seen before, but couldn’t remember where, perhaps if he-

His thoughts where interrupted as Victor rips off the full faced mask on the dead man, and recoils.

The mask was attached to his skin, which was ripped off in the process. Victor drops the mask in shock and disgust and looks away from the bloody face,

“Oh Gods, what is wrong with people,” Victor shakes his head and takes in a deep breath.

Both Yuuri and Victor has seen some seriously messed stuff in their life, but this was something else,

“well, at least I know who he is” Yuuri said weakly, and sighed, “now we have to clean this up”

“of course we do” Victor groans, “mind filling me in?”

“you know the Prophet Anyat?” Yuuri answers, “the woman who led a holy war against the False God, Keyvensi, who belived the world needed to end in order to be cleansed, then was captured and tortured to death? In an old reading, there was a detailed drawing of the tormentors in this exact mask, which I wouldn’t have remembered, but the detail of it being attached to skin was memorable”

“cultists?” Victor suggested,

“I hope.” Yuuri replied sullenly, looking at the body. The man didn’t even look like he was in pain when Yuuri cut his throat, and didn’t make a single noise during their fight. It was very odd and Yuuri didn’t feel good about it at all.

“You have got to be kidding me.” An angry voice called behind them. Shit. Christophe was here. “what did I say about murder?!”

“sorry,” Yuuri apologizes helplessly, “he attacked Victor, technically, it wasn’t my fault”

“really Yuuri?” Victor said, betrayal in his voice,

“I’m just saying,” Yuuri doesn’t sound guilty at all, “I had nothing to do with this”

“I don’t believe you for a second,” Christophe sighs, “I knew if the two of you got together, this would happen”

They stand there in silence, Christophe kicks the body a little,

“I suppose I have a room where you can examine him” Christophe says, “and I’ll put some guards here in case there are more assassins, trying to murder my guests”

“you’re my favourite,” Yuuri smiles gives Christophe a quick hug, who hugs him back gently,

“I know,” Christophe replies, unable to stop himself from grinning, “I’ll make sure no one knows what just happened, good luck”

He looks at Yuuri with fondness and worry before turning away.

Guess he’s not mad at me anymore, Yuuri thought.

 

“did you two date?” Victor asks, stopping the awkward silence between them,  

“me and Christophe?” Yuuri says, sounding surprised, “no, I saved his life once, and he was very ungrateful about it”

“you two seemed close,” Victor looked away, watching Christophe charm some poor, young noble woman,

“I hope so,” Yuuri says softly, he sounded sad “he’s a good person, I’d be lucky to be his friend.”

“oh.” Victor replied. He doesn’t know how to describe the way he feels right now. He just kissed Yuuri in a very passionate way and had his life saved by the same man. But felt almost… threatened at the thought of Yuuri hugging Christophe. He stops himself before it gets out of hand. It’s irrational, he was probably still in shock or something.

“once were done with the body,” Yuuri stops Victor in his tracks, and takes one of his hands, “we should dance together,”

“you did promise me you would,” Victor smiled, and felt warm all of a sudden.

 


	4. aftermath

“that’s disgusting, but kind of cool,” Sara comments, looking over the dead body. The servant, Eric, looks like he’s about to throw up. But Sara wouldn’t let him out of the room, of course.

“can you imagine having his severed head mounted on your wall somewhere?” Yuuri replies, not looking up from the wounds he was prodding at, “no one’s gonna mess with you after seeing that”

“my brother would never go for it,” Sara sighed, and slumped into a cushioned chair, “he wouldn’t even let me go on a date”

“tragic,” Yuuri said, not sounding sympathetic at all, earning an angry huff from her, and a rant about how unsupportive Yuuri was being.

Yuuri barely listened, his full attention was on the dead body. It was a curious case, the skin looks way colder than it should be, and felt like marble. The blood was barely flowing, despite only being killed less than ten minutes ago. It looked like the man hadn’t been eating or drinking for a long time. Simply put, he looked like he’s been dead for more than a month.

Yuuri was glad that he sent Victor to look after the king, because this would be very hard to explain, and he definitely did not want anyone knowing about it besides his own people. A part of him felt guilty for keeping the secret, after all, the assassin was targeting Victor, and according to Eric, previous attacks were just wild swings and erratic movements.

He never had any problems with lying before, his job meant that he had to be a skilled liar. Maybe it’s because he kissed him? He’s kissed people before, but only one other person where he didn’t have an ulterior motive. And it was an odd sensation, he actually _wanted_ to kiss Victor, despite not knowing at all what he was trying to do. It wasn’t until the last second he registered that they were actually going to kiss. It’s probably best to stop thinking about it, before he gets a headache.

“Sara,” Yuuri commands all of a suddenly, halting a conversation between Sara and Eric. She seemed annoyed at the intrusion since she was trying to make sure Eric doesn’t have nightmares for rest of his life,

“take Eric home, and tell the king that I will be staying here with the body for a week or so”

“yes boss,” Sara says before dragging the young servant out of the room.

And now, Yuuri had to convince Christophe to keep his secret from the public, and to let him stay for a while. He slicked his hair back and moistened his lips with a balm before heading back to the party.

He dragged Christophe away from a small crowd, who looked weary at his antics, into a different empty hall and gestured for him to sit

“can you keep a secret for me?” Yuuri’s voice was quiet now that he was standing very close to the noble.

“what’s this about?” Christophe looked up and down Yuuri’s body appreciatively, catching on to what Yuuri was doing

“you know the, uh, _thing,_ that happened tonight,” Yuuri was whispering in his ear with his hands moving his small circles on his chest, “why don’t we just keep it between _us_ “

“is that safe to do?” Christophe replied, pulling Yuuri on to his lap, and smirked when the spymaster yelped in surprise,

“… I’ll show you what I discovered,” Yuuri answers, sounding much more serious this time, “then you can decide”

“sounds fair” Christophe says after a moment of silence, Yuuri searched his eyes, and he looked trusting.

“thank you,” Yuuri smiles gratefully, and gets up

“I suppose you’re going to tell me that you weren’t using your sex appeal to convince me to let you do whatever you want” Christophe says teasingly, letting Yuuri pull him up,

“I was being friendly,” Yuuri replies innocently, “and appealing to your morality”

“sure, whatever you say,” Christophe snorted, then added, “I wonder what you look like when you’re actually trying to seduce someone”

“Christophe,” Yuuri replied in a completely serious voice, “I have never seduced anyone in my life”

“I don’t know if I want to kiss you or strangle you,”

“both are illegal- hey, don’t hit me, I’m telling the High Priestess!”

 

 

…

 

 

 

Victor never got his dance, and Yuuri didn’t even come home with him. Well, the castle wasn’t Yuuri’s home in the first place. No one would even tell him what’s going on besides repeating the words ‘investigation’ and ‘not your business’.

Rude.

Victor felt the childish need to tell them that he made out with their boss, but Yuuri probably wouldn’t like that. He’d probably say something along the lines of, “I was bestowing a blessing, a holy embrace upon you,” or some kind of religious nonsense he spews when he confronted for his less than virtuous actions.

That being said, Victor really wanted to kiss Yuuri again, and do other immoral, sinful actions with the spymaster. He doesn’t recall the last time he ever felt this way over a kiss. He had plenty of good kisses with the men and women he met in his home country and in his travels. Perhaps it’s been too long since it happened, Victor thought, maybe anyone could have gotten him so worked up. And since it hasn’t gone any further than kissing, he could try it with any other attractive person in the city.

 

...

 

 

“everytime you flirt with someone,” Yurio said between striking a half broken training dummy, “I want to throw up”

“you’re just too young to understand,” Victor waves off the insult with a smile and a hair ruffle, which made Yurio point his sword at Victor instead,

“and you’re a moron” Yurio replies, cutting the dummy in half, the soldiers who walked by looked equally impressed and afraid.

Despite Victor’s best efforts, he hasn’t found anyone who’s gotten him in the same kind of mood that Yuuri did, so he ended up not kissing or having sex with anyone else.

 

...

 

 

He tries to keep Yuuri off his mind for some time after being summoned into a meeting. The atmosphere was tense, he had a feeling that something was wrong by the way that the others looked. He sat beside the king as usual, hoping that his instincts were wrong.

They weren’t. Something terrible was being proposed,

“now that the spymaster isn’t here,” the army lieutenant, Ravien, says “we should attack Monelith, he won’t figure it out if we send our finest soliders ahead, we could win the war once and for all”

“are you mad?!” one of the kings advisers, Yakov nearly shouted, “there’s a team of exceptionally talented spies in the other kingdom, what if word travels back the Priestess?”

“we kill them,” Ravien suggests, “last I’ve heard, they don’t have more than 20 people, we make sure they can’t talk to anyone in the Holy city.”

Yurio looked conflicted, but he did seem to agree more with Yakov, and since he was only fifteen, military decisions cannot be made completely by him. Victor also agreed with Yakov, not only is the plan dangerous, it was also dishonorable. They had shaken hands on a truce, and that piece of news was spread to the entire world. How many allies would they lose if they had broken their word. Many countries that they were friendly with are devoted to the Priestess, they would surely cut off all relations with his country for going against her will.

After nearly an hour of infighting, everyone was tired. So a vote took place. Yurio’s opinon would not account for more than one vote. So it ended up that ambush would take place. Mila and Georgi, two other members of the meeting looked as unhappy as he did. But there was nothing to be done. And it was still Victor’s job to draw up the battle plan and execute the attack.

 _Gods, what would Yuuri think_ was the first thing that appeared in Victor’s head as he retired to his chambers.

Perhaps this was fate's way to say that the spymaster and him were never meant to be anything more. The thought of made Victor feel ill.

It was a weakness, Victor convinced himself after thinking about it all night. His duty was to his country. He had made worse sacrifices before in war. This is no different.

Victor doesn’t feel any better.

 

 

…

 

 

“Boss!” one of Yuuri’s spies cried out between breathes, he looked like he had been running a long distance. “y-you’re not gonna like this”

His voice and expression was serious, and almost regretful. Yuuri had no doubt that what he was going to hear next wasn’t going to be pleasant.

“it’s ok,” Yuuri replies, he tried to sound comforting, “come, let’s talk inside.”

Yuuri presented his anxious spy a cup of green tea, hoping it would calm his nerves. He took a long sip and looked a bit better, but not much. It was enough to make him recap what he saw without having a panic attack.

“you’re saying the commander voted no to the ambush, but is drawing up the battle plans this very moment,” Yuuri says sharply, then cringed as he watched his spy’s face turn white,

“Yes, they didn’t see me, I know when and how they’ll attack,” he reported with the last of his energy.

“thank you,” Yuuri smiles softly at him, putting his hands on top of the spy’s for further reassurance, “you’ve done well. I’ll make sure nothing bad is going to happen, you may rest.”

“no problem, boss,” the spy smiles back weakly.

This changes everything, Yuuri thought, and let his false calm expression drop after the spy left. He was lying when he told the spy not to worry. There wasn’t anything he could think of that would keep people from getting killed.

Unless he could somehow convince Victor and the king to stop it. They have the power, and they could pull it off with a bit of meddling from Yuuri himself, but there would be dissent, which isn’t Yuuri’s problem. But somehow, he feels like it is. He was supposed to keep the peace, no matter the cost. It's always like this, Yuuri thought bitterly, his work came before everything. There was nothing he could do without consequences and losing parts of himself. He never expected things to go turn out badly this early on. 

This isn't the time to complain, he mentally lectured himself. I have to do this, if not for anyone else, then for the High Priestess. He still owns her. 

So he cuts his investigation of early and heads back to the central city.

**Author's Note:**

> changed summary after re writing so stuff.


End file.
